He was featured on the Versus television series TapouT, where he was sponsored before his fight with Anthony Njokuani. Cerrone won the fight in the first round with a triangle choke.

World Extreme Cagefighting

Cerrone was signed to fight in the WEC. His first fight in the promotion was against Kenneth Alexander. Originally a win via submission in 0:56 seconds of the first round, the decision was changed to a no contest when Cerrone tested positive for the banned substance hydrochlorothiazide.[4]

Cerrone was scheduled to face Rich Crunkilton at WEC 34, but Crunkilton was forced off the card with an injury and replaced by Danny Castillo.[5] Cerrone won the bout via submission (armbar) in the first round.

At WEC 38 he fought WEC lightweight champion, Jamie Varner, losing via technical split decision. The fight was highly competitive and won the 'Fight of the Night' award. However, the fight was stopped prematurely in the fifth round when Cerrone hit Varner's temple with an illegal knee while Varner was still on the ground. Varner was given time to recover, but he was unable to continue, noting that he had double vision and had sustained a broken hand.

Cerrone was again scheduled to face Rich Crunkilton on June 7, 2009 at WEC 41, but Crunkilton was forced off the card with an injury and replaced by James Krause.[6] Cerrone defeated Krause via first round submission.

Cerrone and Varner had agreed to a rematch, tentatively at WEC 43, but Varner was unable to receive medical clearance as a result from his hand injury. Cerrone fought Benson Henderson for the WEC Interim Lightweight Championship on October 10, 2009 at WEC 43 in San Antonio, Texas,[7] losing by unanimous decision. The fight was awarded Fight of the Year honors by Sherdog for 2009. Cerrone credited Henderson for being "a hell of a fighter" and conceded that he was slow to start the action, which may have cost him the match.[8]

Cerrone defeated Ed Ratcliff via third round submission at WEC 45 on December 19, 2009.[9] The bout also earned Cerrone Fight of the Night honors.

Cerrone faced rival Jamie Varner in their highly anticipated rematch on September 30, 2010 at WEC 51.[12] He won the fight via unanimous decision, winning all 3 rounds. In between rounds, there were often many shoves and middle fingers given by both fighters to one another, including a shove at the very end of the match. In the post fight interview, Cerrone declared he'd be willing to do a rematch in Arizona, Varner's home state, to settle their score once and for all. The bout won 'Fight of the Night' honors.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Cerrone faced Paul Kelly on February 5, 2011 at UFC 126, replacing an injured Sam Stout.[15] Cerrone defeated Kelly via tapout due to a rear naked choke. For their performance, both fighters earned "Fight of the Night" honors.

Cerrone was expected to face Mac Danzig on June 11, 2011 at UFC 131.[16] However, Danzig was forced out of the bout with a chest injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Vagner Rocha.[17] Cerrone won the fight via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26), having neutralized his opponent's ability to get close and grapple by way of punishing leg kicks. During the post-fight interview Cerrone apologized for his performance, admitting he "fought to not lose, not to win."[18]

Cerrone was expected to face Paul Taylor on August 14, 2011 at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle, replacing an injured John Makdessi. On July 7 it was announced that Taylor had broken his foot and was forced out of the bout and replaced by Charles Oliveira.[19] He didn’t waste much time in the fight, landing a hook to the body of Oliveira that dropped him. He then swarmed Oliveira, defeating him via TKO three minutes into the opening round, earning Knockout of Night honors for the performance.[20]

Cerrone lost to Nate Diaz at UFC 141 via unanimous decision, in a performance that earned both participants Fight of the Night honors.[22] Despite knocking Diaz off of his feet multiple times with leg kicks, Cerrone could not offset the volume punches from Diaz, as Diaz landed 82% of the strikes he threw en route to his victory over Cerrone.[23] On his loss to Diaz Cerrone stated,
"You know instinct, I think that's the thing a lot of people aren't doing. That's where I made the mistake in my last fight, is, you need to learn to turn your brain off and just go by reactions. Don't go in there and try and think and do things and fight with your brain, because that's the thing, I got angry and tried to kill him, and when you try to go [too] hard you just can't do it."[24]

Cerrone fought and defeated Melvin Guillard via first round KO on August 11, 2012 at UFC 150.[27] Guillard landed a strong left hand early in the first round that floored Cerrone, who got to his feet only to absorb several more strikes from the pursuing Guillard. Around a minute into the fight Cerrone threw a high kick which grazed Guillard's head - stunning him - and continued to drop him with a straight right which forced the stoppage. The performance earned Cerrone Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night honors.

Cerrone fought former WEC Lightweight ChampionAnthony Pettis on January 26, 2013 at UFC on Fox 6.[28] Pettis landed a kick to the liver which dropped Cerrone to the canvas before following up with punches on the ground, prompting referee Rob Madrigal to stop the fight. This was the first time Cerrone had been stopped with strikes in his MMA career.[29]

Cerrone faced Evan Dunham on November 16, 2013 at UFC 167. He won the fight via triangle choke in the second round. The win also earned him his second Submission of the Night bonus award.[32]

Cerrone faced Adriano Martins on January 25, 2014 at UFC on Fox 10.[33] He won the fight by knockout due to a headkick in the first round. The win also earned Cerrone his third Knockout of the Night bonus award.[34]

Cerrone faced Edson Barboza on April 19, 2014 at UFC on Fox 11.[35] Despite being rocked several times by Barboza in the first few minutes, Cerrone rallied to drop his opponent with a jab and then secure the rear-naked choke submission for the win. The win also earned Cerrone his first Performance of the Night bonus award.[36]

Cerrone faced Jim Miller on July 16, 2014 at UFC Fight Night 45.[37] Cerrone defeated Miller via knockout in the second round due to a head kick and punches, becoming the first man to give Miller a professional knockout loss.[38] The win also earned Cerrone his second Performance of the Night bonus award.[39]

Cerrone was briefly linked to a bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov on September 27, 2014 at UFC 178.[40] However, the pairing was quickly scrapped after it was revealed that Nurmagomedov had suffered a knee injury that would sideline him indefinitely.[41] Subsequently, Cerrone was matched with Bobby Green at the event.[42] In turn, Cerrone eventually faced Eddie Alvarez in the co-main event of the card.[43] After being staggered several times in the clinch by Alvarez, Cerrone came back in the following rounds with hard kicks and knees, eventually scoring a knockdown in the 3rd round due to low kicks. Cerrone won the fight via unanimous decision.[44]

Cerrone faced Myles Jury on January 3, 2015 at UFC 182.[45] Cerrone commented on his desire to fight him was due to his disdain over Jury's arrogant response after defeating Cerrone's former training partner, Diego Sanchez in UFC 171.[46] He won the fight by dominating Jury from 1st to 3rd round via unanimous decision.[47] Regardless, Cerrone expressed disappointment towards himself after the fight due to there being boos from the crowd during some points of inactivity. "My legacy is I want to be fighting my ass off every time, so I don't consider that a win. I'm not happy with my performance and I'm gonna go watch the tape and figure out what I need to do to capitalize if that happens again."[48]

After asking UFC brass for a quick turnaround following his victory over Jury at UFC 182, it was announced on January 5 that Cerrone would replace an injured Eddie Alvarez and faced former opponent Benson Henderson on January 18, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 59.[49] Cerrone won the fight via unanimous decision.[50] 12 of 14 media outlets scored the bout in favor of Henderson.[51]

Personal life

Cerrone currently lives on a 10-acre (40,000 m2) ranch and is looking to house several fighters that want to make a career in MMA. He calls it the "TapOut Ranch" and has dedicated an entire wing for fighters wanting to live and train with world class talent. He lives there with best friend, Leonard Garcia.